Named after a precious metal, Plata (Plataforma Aeroportuaria de Teruel) has become the jewel in the crown of Teruel's infrastructure. Without the bustle of passengers and suitcases typical of other airports, its value lies in its commitment to the industrial sector. A vein that has been able to exploit to become the largest aircraft parking, maintenance and recycling center in Europe and, about to turn ten years old, is one of the main economic engines and job creation in this Aragonese province.
From the Mudejar highway (Sagunt-Somport) you can see the field where dozens of aircraft from different companies remain stored. There are currently 85, but during the worst of the pandemic there were 127. With the expansion of 200 hectares underway, added to the current 350, it will be the third largest airport in Spain after Barajas and El Prat and will have capacity for 300.
"The possibilities are exciting," says Pedro Sáez, general director of Tarmac Aragón, an Airbus subsidiary specializing in the dismantling, storage and recycling of aircraft. His company was the first to set up shop at the airfield in 2013 and the one that generates the highest volume of business. They were drawn to the area's sunny, dry-cool environment and its potential for growth. Now they directly employ 220 people, and they hope to double that figure in the next four years, he said at an event this week that brought together experts and leading companies in the sector.
At first, not everyone was so clear. The project promoted by the former president of Aragon, Marcelino Iglesias, was born under strong criticism in the years of the real estate bubble and waste, which left notorious fiascos such as the Castellón or Ciudad Real airports. However, the arrival of Tarmac served as a shock and a magnet to attract other companies. What its detractors defined as an "aircraft dump" ended up giving shape to an ecosystem that offers a large part of the services that an aircraft needs, both throughout its useful life and at its end. Now there are leading firms such as PLD Space (rocket engines), Delsat (drones), IAC (aircraft painting, with a recently awarded hangar and another already in mind) or Sceye (stratospheric platforms).
The infrastructure is managed by a public consortium (60% from the Government of Aragon and 40% from the Teruel City Council) that provides the facilities, while companies, under concession or lease, provide the services. Under this system, in these ten years almost 18,200 air operations have been registered, invested 82.8 million euros and generated 350 direct jobs and three times more indirect ones. Figures that the president of Aragon, Javier Lambán, expects to grow in the coming years to reach a thousand direct jobs and another 1,800 indirect ones. "And we have to aspire to more," added the president.
To cover this growing demand with qualified local personnel, an aeronautical technician module was created in Teruel, which works as a quarry and is in great demand. Workers such as Javier Romero, from Teruel, have been trained there, whose work at PLD Space has allowed him to stay in his hometown with his family and not have to look for work outside of it. “Something very good”, he admits, especially in a community in which depopulation is one of the main evils for its development.
Although the complex suffered a setback in December when it lost the race to house the headquarters of the Spanish Space Agency (Sevilla took it), the prospects for 2023 are rosy.
Added to the expansion of the facilities is the start-up of the painting warehouse –which will generate annual income of 755,000 euros–, the completion of the double hangar in which there will be space for two Airbus 380s, whose management will be granted next year , or the "serious options" that President Pedro Sánchez said that Teruel has to be awarded a project to develop a microsatellite launcher that has an investment of 45 million euros from the Aerospace Department. For Teruel and its airport, space is the limit.
